The 2nd Law
by Darkness1OOO
Summary: Short story heavily inspired by the two The 2nd Law music videos, Unsustainable and Isolated System. Both by and copyrighted by Muse.


"Thank you for that report on Are We Living Inside a Computer Simulation, Ray." "You're welcome, John." "Now we move on to Katie, with a report on the Energy Crisis and the Economy."

"Thank you, John. All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system incre,cre,cre,cre,c,c," The TV was slapped once and the signal was brought back into focus.

"creases. Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted and useless. New energy cannot be created and high grade energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is,"

A very angry and red face suddenly appeared on screen to loudly fill in the last word, "UNSUSTAINABLE." And then repeat it for the next 30 seconds with intermittent static. Attempts to turn down the volume were unsuccessful, and eventually normal broadcast continued, slightly more glitchy than before.  
"The fundamental laws of thermodynamics will placed fixed limits on technological innovation, and human advancement, dvavavancement. In an isolated system; the entropy can only increase. A species set on endless growth is,"

Once again, the angry red face appeared again to loudly fill in the blank. At the end, it said, **_"YOU'RE UNSUSTAINABLE."_** As soon as the last syllable was uttered, the power, all of it, globally, shut off. Isolated supplies of electricity, such as batteries, remained powered. The person standing, previously watching the television stepped outside, to confirm the power outage. As had a good amount of neighbors. A rising volume of noise and attention was being pointed to a very distant blur. The young adults, the reactionary and independent, they were the first to show signs of worry. They saw, behind the distant blur, the ground turning completely black. Utterly blank. In the distance, low, mixed sounds of various broadcasts could be heard emanating. As the influx came closer, the mixed broadcasts intensified. The distortion was easily seen now, for anyone that was still standing in complete awe. It was a refractive torrent of polygons rupturing from the ground, ripping the color, the design, the very texture from anything in its path. Anyone that had not already run away, began too late.

The group of young adults almost immediately began running from it, having seen tons of apocalyptic media, imagery, entertainment. They formed a makeshift group, not knowing where to go but all running. There was no time to decide, no breath to waste on speech. Someone made the split second decision to head for the forest. It wasn't as plain as running on the road, but someone thought that, perhaps, it may somehow obstruct this wave. Some continued the way they were going, others followed. No one ever looked back. It didn't occur to anyone to look back. They could hear when it was near, and it wasn't. It was still within hearing - a vague, artificial white noise, like listening to the radio on a low volume and not focusing on it.

They ended up near the coast. It had an obvious trail, although some opted to leave the trail in favor a hopefully more prosperous, if unorthodox, route. In spite of all the miscellaneous equipment, buildings, et cetera, it was better than running through the forest. With the immediate threat seemingly left momentarily behind, people began to look back, to encourage the trailing people to run faster, run harder, to survive. In that moment of hesitation, they heard it, indistinguishably. The sound of a hundred radios, the sound of static.

Someone was caught. They could hear it, and felt death looming. Death sounded like a million broadcasts all at once, and felt like static. When the wave reached the ground under them, they were instantly thrown off balance by the sudden jagged mountain range under their feet. They fell into it. Immediately, feeling was lost, and then everything was lost. The electricity was lost, as if somebody pulled the plug on the human body. As soon as physics would provide, the body was curled into a fetal position. The smooth, round shapes of the human body roughened, the lines becoming more and more visible. Color was lost, then the patterns, then even the very contours of the human body disintegrated into a void.

Everyone else continued to run. The key was to look back, but _never_ stop running forward. As they ran across a street, a car with the license plate HELIUM-3 nearly hit one, but was narrowly dodged. The group split up further after that, heading separate ways. The driver looked at them confusedly, only to be overridden by the sudden pulse of void. With the group split up three ways, it was arguably safer. However, the wave was not limited, and it did not end. It merely continued, after everyone. Three people in particular jumped a fence onto a beach, as the beach was very flat, and easy to run on.

The beach provided an easy run, but that is ignoring the stamina. After running for nearly half an hour without stopping, many were lucky they even managed this far. Some fell early, being unfit, unready for such a run. It was only imminent death that could possibly provide this much of a chance to even escape. Someone fell, tripped by the sudden lack of ground. The person in front never looked back. The person behind her continuously looked back, infinitely startled by the entire event. Then, on a final retrospect, the wave met him and took him.

She was the only one left. She, for the first time, looked back and saw the apocalypse. She saw the loneliness of the apocalypse, and accelerated. She began to move faster than the boiling world could hope to move. She sprinted across the beach, meters going by in seconds. Yet, she was out. Her run became sloppy as even adrenaline was no longer enough to push her. She fell to the ground. Time seemed to stop as clarity, previously left behind, came rushing to catch up. A billion thoughts ran through her head, mangled together by a billion other things. Only one thought came through clearly.  
_You can run, but you can't hide._

She had been running. You can run. You can't hide from the end, but you can run from it. Even, then, no one can run forever. And the end is forever. She took a breath, and began toward the end. She started off walking, then running, before breaking into full sprint. The best way to handle a problem is to confront it. She collided peacefully with the wave, the texture pulled from her and the contours of her existence dissolved. The noise had cleared to only one broadcast from prior.

_"In an isolated system, entropy can only increase."_


End file.
